NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. -- AmSkills – or American Manufacturing Skills Initiative – still has spots available for its two-week long summer camp coming up in June.

  • AmSkills camp teaches skills needed in advanced manufacturing
  • Camp can lead to pre-apprenticeship program
  • Learn more at www.amskills.org

Executive Director Tom Mudano said the camp can be a lead-in to AmSkills fall pre-apprenticeship program.

“We have to be creative in order to help get the interest,” said Mudano in reference to trade careers. “So, we created a 3D printing camp, for instance, for teenagers. They get to kind of come in and they get to build a 3D printer.”

AmSkills and its camp began in 2015. It’s a European-style apprenticeship program that teaches people in Pasco, Pinellas, and Hernando Counties the skills needed to land jobs in advanced manufacturing.

Participants are high school students, veterans, and adults.

“For awhile, I wanted to go to college,” said Joshua Ortiz, 19, who started the program about six weeks ago. “It didn’t really work out. I’m more of a hands-on guy.”

“There’s been so much push, ‘Go to college, go to college’ for the last 20 years. Everybody’s gone to college, and not everybody needs to have a college degree – especially in manufacturing,” Mudano said.

Mudano said that’s created a void for manufacturers trying to fill positions with skilled workers. Once AmSkills students complete studying in areas like robotics, electronics, mechatronics, and machining, they’re placed in apprenticeships with Tampa Bay companies.

“We’re here to help them figure it out,” Mudano said. “We teach them those hands-on skills that they need, so if they come in with no knowledge of it, we’re here not only to give them the skills that they need, but also help them to explore to help them figure out which is the best path for them.”

Ortiz said he’s looking already thinking beyond that first job.

“What I take from here is what I’m going to put into my own business one day,” he said.

The AmSkills camp runs from June 4 - June 15 in each of its three counties. To learn more, visit www.amskills.org.